On October 15th Deafheaven returned to Athens after 8 years. The band was celebrating the release of their latest album, "Infinite Granite", which came out last year, and our city marked the final stop of their European tour. Support was provided by Once Upon A Winter.
Upon entering the premises, I was pleasantly surprised that the ushers instructed the audience to not smoke inside the venue, and the majority of the attendees did indeed abide to that. At 21:10 openers Once Upon A Winter took the stage. Hailing from Thessaloniki, they delivered a post rock/metal mostly instrumental performance. Admittedly they weren't my cup of tea musically but it's safe to say that gradually the crowd started warming up to them.
At 22:20 Deafheaven took the stage. The California outfit, who was greeted by an eager audience, got straight to business with "Shellstar". George Clarke's incessant moving and dancing (in loafers no less!) was an intriguing sight; expressive and emotive, whether he was signaling the drum beats with his hands in almost full composure or lustfully grinding against the mic stand, his stage presence was captivating from every aspect. If you ask me, that's what happens when the metal kids love music theater but more on this theory at another time. Unfortunately during the first few songs sound wasn't on his side; while comparing notes with friends afterwards, we realized that the clean vocals weren't audible in the front and on the balcony, but people in the middle of the arena could hear then just fine. Thankfully the issue was resolved, although the sound wasn't always excellent, but the quintet was able to unravel their array of noise regardless.
Much to the gatekeepers' dismay life goes on, so does music, cry me a river the setlist revolved around "Infinite Granite" as expected. Granted, we were all anxious to hear some of the older material, and our anticipation was to an extent rewarded. The vocalist's screams were otherworldly to say the least, completely elevating the performance. The second "Honeycomb" and "From The Kettle Onto The Coil" were introduced, the cheers became more frenzied. While Clarke was erratic, the other band members took a while to fully start participating but towards the end, and as we reached the encore and "Brought To The Water", they were completely immersed in their performance, jumping and headbanging. The frontman got off the stage on a couple occasions to mingle with the crowd, to share the mic and to shake hands with the first row, thanking them for their participation and promising to come back soon. With the entire venue chanting "Sunbather!", Deafheaven ended the set with "Dream House", leaving us craving for more.
All in all, I deeply regret that it took me so long to see Deafheaven despite the opportunities I've had. That Saturday night was a wonderfully noisy experience from a band that knows who they are and what they bring to the table, and I sincerely hope it won't take them another 8 years to come back.
All pictures courtesy of Dearohwell photography
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